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John Laurie: Wanderings

John Laurie

How do you make a living? Professional commercial, editorial and fine art Photographer

What camera do you use?

A few. Contax 645 film camera. Canon 1dx and 5dIII. Phase one and just trying to get into Large format. I predominantly use one lens for most things –the 50mm . I dig its real vibe

How has travel made an impact on your life?

Massively. It got me started. I’ve always had itchy feet. I studied Marketing at uni then worked for Leo Burnett and then quit after two years and went travelling through Indonesia, India, Thailand, Canada and USA. It was on this trip with Nikon FE2 that I really started to explore the medium of photography. I became aware of the corners of the globe and wanted to explore the people and cultures and this is what I did. Now I make a living from doing it.

What does adventure mean to you?

Remoteness, untouched cultures, open landscapes, campfires, great waves, hiking, sunsets, sunrises, stars, reading, meeting people, being still and present. It courses through your veins like an addiction that drives you pursue the different, the obscure, the meaningful and the mesmerising

This was taken onboard a cruise ship for a story I covered for Australian Gourmet Traveller. It is in the middle of the Baltic Sea early in the morning during Summer so the days were really long. Thank goodness for block out blinds

This photo was taken on the island of Sumba in Indonesia. They are traditional Sumbanese horseman who ride bareback on pretty wild horses as part of the Pasola battle ritual. By then end I think they were pretty keen to spear me. Photographers can be pretty annoying sometimes. Or maybe its just me

Taken from the side of the road in the Tierra Atacama in Chile. Completely unplanned, I got out of the car to take a landscape photo and this awesome 1960s style brown pickup cruised through. It’s got a real Easy Rider vibe to it that I really dig. The whole place is pretty incredible and pretty hard to take a bad photo that’s for sure! Although i’ve just had a look through my files and there are some shockers. Maybe I just got lucky

On piste shot on a recent snowboarding trip to Myoko in Japan. I’d been there all week with friends and family and had been riding empty runs for days. It’s a pretty awesome place. Unchanged since the 1970s and very Japanese and local. I’d decided to dedicate this first day of the weekend when it was the most crowded to shooting and really got into all the colours and constructing little tableaus of people as form in the landscape. I’ve got this printed massive on my wall at home. I think it looks good. But im a terrible judge of things so I could easily be mistaken.

Fox glacier New Zealand. Shot from a helicopter. I like the snow and ice and I want to do way more it this year. This was at the end of the season as it slowly began to melt away. I probably didn’t need to tell you that but I had some space left in the caption and feel the urge to use it all up.

This guy made me laugh! Shot in St Mawes in Cornwall England. I was there photographing the people on holiday in this beautiful cove. Then this guy rocked up. He’d never spearfished before and I think he still had his clothes on under his wetsuit. He was super cool though and I liked his vibe. So I photographed him and sent him on his way. Goodbye I said.

Salt pans of Maras in Peru. I love repetitious patterns in nature. This place is off the hook. Cascading salt pans that terraced down the side of a valley set amongst the mountains. I was here on assignment for a few weeks exploring Peru and Chile with a writer friend. I enjoyed this possibly more than Macchu Picchu. Its pretty hectic there but still has a vibe. They knew their stuff the Incans that’s for sure. Well played Incans. Tip of the cap.

This was onboard a traditional Fijian Camakau sailing boat. It was a pretty relaxing way to spend the afternoon cruising around with this dude although he got confused as to why I kept asking him to look wistfully out to the horizon. I was on assignment for an American travel magazine shooting the incredible luxury resort called Laucala, a private island in Fiji. It was during off-peak season so I pretty much had this entire resort to myself. You win some you lose some. Gin please!

Hell yes. Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) in Chile. I literally could have thrown my camera in the air and it would have taken a good photo. Zero plants, desert palette, hot as hell, a couple of mountain bikers and a bronze van. The ingredients were there. I just stirred the pot.

We live in a frame of mind which is determined by where and when we’re born and the kind of culture we are exposed to. Seeking what we might be outside of this frame is what I’m trying to do in my solo trips.

It’s been three years since I’ve been travelling alone. A lot of people ask whether I felt lonely during these trips. I went to the French Alps and stayed in a cabin alone for a month but felt neither alone nor scared. I’m surrounded by the splendour of nature and I meet beautiful and interesting people.

The greatest part of any adventure is the unknown: a real adventure comes from no plan, spontaneity in decision-making, meeting people from all walks of life, interacting with cultures or religions that you previously haven’t, and a sense of resetting your life with each new place or journey.

I spent years of my childhood pouring over atlases and leafing through National Geographic Magazines which ignited my travel lust. Experiencing different landscape, smells, sounds and cultures first hand makes the world seem both big and small.

Adventure has given me the opportunity to develop my character as a person and as a professional; discovering my interest in exploration came late on in my life, I was tired, impatient and my priorities were all wrong.

I am primarily interested in documenting the everyday world around me, with a particular interest in landscapes featuring human interventions that visually activate their surroundings in strangely compelling ways.

I try to go on longer trips at least once every other year and leep on any adventure that’s handed to me, both small and big ones. Without travelling I feel trapped. To see and experience new things makes life so much bigger and helps me to widen my mind and actually makes me feel more at ease with myself and life.

Travel has shaped who I am. I’ve spent most of my life chasing winters and snow. Now it’s good to live in one place but still be able to travel for work and for shorter travel missions. I guess now I seek out moments and light instead of snow.

For me, leaving the easy things behind, getting into situations that I’m not used is where it all starts. Maybe you’re not ready for it, or even intially interested in, but you go. And you figure it out along the way.

Being able to save up, drop everything and travel for months is a privilege I take for granted so often, I’ve been trying to be more aware of how lucky I am. I like to keep a balance between visiting new places and old favourites; it keeps things fresh, whilst also forging emotional ties with locations that aren’t my place of birth.

Adventure means getting out of your comfort zone. Lots good things in life can only happen after you do something uncomfortable.
Travel has completely changed my life in terms of how I see photography.

Travel has taught me to question things and keep curious. I’m constantly reminded that I actually don’t know that much; it’s a very humbling experience which both keeps me in check and open to new possibilities.

I think most of all, I am constantly pursuing new and different experiences, and travel is the most surefire way I’ve found so far that is guaranteed to play host to whatever types of new experiences you want to dive into!

Adventuring keeps the inspiration flowing for me. Either heading to new places or really exploring the areas that are close by its always great to get out and adventure somehow. Something to look forward to, to enjoy and then re-live, and do all over again!

Travel changes everything. Being on the road is so inspiring. There’s always new, refreshing things to see and capture. I love it. Most of the time I’m a homebody, but then I get cabin fever and have to see new things.

I take pictures like a tourist, mostly to create nice images and souvenirs but in a way, I feel that photography is a weak way to help you to remember. It creates images that become stronger than your memories and consumes them.

I believe travelling is the best form of education. You can get very isolated in the bubble you call your life and just getting out there and experiencing how others live theirs makes you very aware of the lovely diversity in the world.

It has opened me up to new places, new friends, and over all a new outlook on life. It has allowed me to be more confident in my decision-making and it has provided a new sense of adventure that I never had before.

I have not been in one place for more than 40 days at a time since I was 16. I like to spend 50% of the time on the road making new work and then the other 50% of the time in my studio working on the images.

Being away from your safety net for that long really makes you a more sympathetic person…I hope..I think. These days it’s shorter trips but I like to go out there you know. I feel like I get soft if I sleep in my own bed too many nights in a row.

Traveling is the best thing to achieve what some call enlightenment, not books nor teachers. Traveling since I was a little kid was the best thing that could ever happen to me, I thank my family for that.

Travel has really influenced a lot of my ideals and perspectives and has certainly given me a sharper sense of what’s actually important in life and what’s not. I find it incredibly easy to get clogged up in a lot of nonsense when I’m in the city.

Whether I was sleeping on the floor of a monastery in Tibet, at the age of sixteen, or wandering the souks of Damascus, or staying in a Yali tribal village in the highlands of West Papua, there was no location too off the beaten path or fellow human being too challenging with whom to communicate.

Traveling has enabled me the space to practice and embody my spiritual beliefs most seamlessly while exploring my freedom to new heights. I have found so much beauty in diversity while creating more space for heartfelt connections.

I spent my years in school dreaming of how to travel, so as soon as I formulated a plan, I did everything in my power to escape and hit the road. I find myself constantly in situations where I am learning both of the world and myself, and have based my life around being able to visit the places that inspire me.

The idea of searching for something new to discover always gives me something exciting to look forward to and work towards. Every adventure I embark on teaches something new, about myself, about cultures, and about the world.

There’s just this wanderlust inside of me that always makes me want to go to somewhere new. I love mountains and nature and wild places, so I try to travel to places with great natural wonders and diversity. For me there’s nothing better than exploring new places or hiking mountains together with close friends or family.

I’ve learned so much about the world through traveling. Bringing that knowledge (whether it’s how to make Pho, or what life is like on a ranch in Montana) back has made my life at home so much richer. I’ve always wanted to live a thousand different lives in a hundred different places. Traveling, and photography, let me do that.